Omaha daily bee., 1887-05-02
THE AWFUL DEPTHS OF SPACE.
A Telescope Which VIII Penetrate the Veil
Of Many Mystries.
JAMES LlcK'S GENEROSITY.
Bringing the Moon Within Sixty-six
Miles or the Earth-Mount Hamil.
toms Hugo Dome Great
Lenses.

Lenses.
During the coming summer there will
be erected upon the summit of Mount
Hamilton, in California, in the huge
dome already prepared for it, the great.
est refracting telescope the world ever
saw or is ever likely to see unless the art
of the glass.maker and of the lens.
grinder should take some marvellous leap
in advance. 1t is quite natural that uni
versal curiosity should be awakened as
to the probable extent of the yet untried
powers Of this monster telescope. The
eyes not only of all astronomers, but of
the Intelligent reading public all over
the world, are turning impatiently to-
ward Mount Hamilton, and one of the
first questions that an astronomer hears
in miscellaneous assemblage is; what
do you think the Lick telescope will
show" If Mr.. James Lick, who charged
his executors to construct the most pow
erful telescope in existence, could hear
the buzz of expectation that the near ac
complshment of his behest has awakened
he would probably already feel repaid
for his generosity.
THE OBSERVATORY.
In view, then, of this widespread and
!audable curiosity about an instrument
that represents the crOwning achieve.
ment of the telescope maker, it is well
worth while to inquire what the Lick
telescope will really be able to do, In
answering that question there are three
principal points to be kept in view. First,
the size OF the telescope; second, the
quality of its workmanship, and third, its
location. In all of these respects the
Lick telescope stands in the front rank
The true measure of the size of a tele-
reilecting telescopes like Lord
Rogge's are here lett out of consideration,
although similar rule would apply to
them-is the diameter OF the object
glass. that IS, the large glass in the end
of the tube furtheSt from the eye. The
object glass of the Lick telescope is three
feet across, ten inches broader than the
Brobdinagian eye Of the great telescope
of the Naval Observatory at Washington.
But those ten inches represent far
mightier increase Of power than the un-
initiated would suppose. They enable
the Lick glass to grasp twice as much
light as the Washington glass can do.
More accurately speaking, while the
Washington telescope collects 1890
times as many rays of light as the un-
aided human eye can do, the Lick tele-
scope will collect 81, 400 times as many
rays dS tuC CSC 10 NDlC w Sttops uC
great telescope recently set up at Pull
kowa, Russia, has an object-glass thirty
inches in diameter, giving 1t light
grasping about two-thirds as great as
that of the Lick telescope.
AS to workmanship the same master
hand that shaped the lenses of the Wash
ington and Pulkowa instruments made
the object glass for the Lick telescope,
the hand of the veteran Alvin Clark, who
is everywhere acknowledged to be the
worlds greatest telescope-maker. That
the Lick glass will compare most favor.
ably with the previous masterpieces of
which it was subjected at Cambridge be-
fore it was sent to California.
MOUNTED FOR USE.
Finally as to the location. In this re-
sDect the Lick telescope will have an ad-
vantage of which those who are not
familiar with the workings of astronom-
zeal instruments can form but a faint
idea. The astronomers worst enemy is
the atmosphere. Even the calmest
weather it is source of annoyance and
a stumbling block to him. One can form
some notion of what the trouble is by
looking over heated reach Of sands in
stove in which a lively fire is burning and
noticing the waving and trembling mo-
ton of the heated air. which twists the
rays of light traverSing it into Il con-
fused blur. Similar motions and cur
rents prevailing in the atmosphere near
ly all the time are magnified by the tele-
scope until their effect is to destroy that
sharpness of vision which is needed in
astronomical observations. There are
two ways of getting rid-to some extent
at least-of this annoyance. One way is
to plant your telescope IN some part OF
the world where an equable climate gives
unusual steadiness to the atmosphere.
Another way is to climb up into high
mountain and set your telescope above
the denser and more troublesome layers
of air. Thirty years ago PiazZi Smyth, the
astronomer royal for Scotland made a
famous experiment which demonstrated
the effectiveness of the last named eXpe-
dent. He went to the Canary Islands,
and dragging powerful telescope to the
top of the lofty peak of Teneritfe, set it
up there amid the pumice stone and lava
blocks of that giant volcano. The astro-
nomical world was delighted with the en-
back of the clearness and distlnctness of
the telescope vision upon the noun
tain top. Yet it was not easy to find q
mountain on which an observatory could
be built, and so astronomers for the most
part continued to do the best they could
al the bottom Of the aerial ocean, only
aspiring in their hearts to be inhabitants
of tho limpid upper air.
Now the Lick telescope has all the ad.
vantages that come from both high
elevation and an equable climate. The
observatory stands on the summit of q
mountain 4,2O0 feet above the sea level.
The climate of that region is delicious;
to the astronomer exquisite. Mr.. Burn
ham, the eagle-eyed discoverer of double
stars, went there to test the seeing quail
ties of the Mount Hamilton air and was
both charmed and astonished. New
double stars fell into his catalogue like
ripe apples in an autumn night.
So We see that In every way the great
telescope will possess an advantage over
| most OF those now in existence, and In
the matter OF size IL is, of course. unri-
vailed.
| Next let us inquire what 1t will proba.
| bly, show. When talking Of the powers
of telescopes, people naturally think first
| of the moon. 1t is the nearest of the
heavenly bodies, and in some respects the